Lyr Req: Trinidad Calypso - Rum and Coca Cola

03 Feb 98 - 03:22 AM (#20526)
Subject: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: [e-mail]

I sometimes listen to a calypso in the German radio, but can't find the verses. The refrain runs: - Drinking rum and Coca Cola - Go down Point Cumana - Boat, Massa, un dollar - Working for the Yankee dollar or so. Can somebody help me?

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03 Feb 98 - 03:53 AM (#20527)
Subject: RE: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: Joe Offer

Well, Wilfried, it isn't a folk song, but you're not likely to find it anywhere else:

Rum and Coca Cola
Words by Morey Amsterdam
Additional Lyrics by Al Stillman
Music by Jeri Sullivan and Paul Baron
©1944, EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.

If you ever go to Trinidad,
They make you feel so very glad.
Calypso sing and make up rhyme;
Guarantee you one good real fine time.

[Chorus]
Drinkin’ rum and Coca Cola;
Go down "Point Koo-mah-nah,"
Both mother and daughter
Singin’ for the Yankee dollar.

Any visitor to Trinidad
Can have good time he never had.
If he come just for rest, okay.
Then he lie around in sun all day.
Chorus

(Morey Amsterdam was on the cast of the "Dick Van Dyke Show" on television. Amsterdam reportedly lost a copyright infringement lawsuit, and the song was actually written by a calypso singer - or so the report says. It was a hit for the Andrews Sisters.)
-Joe Offer-

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03 Feb 98 - 02:24 PM (#20541)
Subject: RE: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: dick greenhaus

Joe, there was (at least) one more verse:

Island gal have figure fine
Just like Trinidad coastline
But there's one thing I must make plain
She's a little plump about Port Au Spain

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03 Feb 98 - 07:54 PM (#20566)
Subject: RE: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: Joe Offer

Friends and neighbors, I can assure you that Dick's verse is not on the Andrews Sisters version of the song. Harumpf!!!!

I see that my songbook has a number of verses missing. Guess I'll have to transcribe more later. Some of those Andrews Sisters verses were pretty darn racy - I had no idea that women of my mother's generation talked that way.....
-Joe Offer-

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04 Feb 98 - 03:01 PM (#20634)
Subject: RE: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: dick greenhaus

Joe- It was on the recording Louis Prima made.

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04 Feb 98 - 11:39 PM (#20679)
Subject: ADD: Rum and Coca Cola
From: Joe Offer

OK, Dick, I did my homework, and this is what I came up with:


Rum and Coca Cola
Words by Morey Amsterdam
Additional Lyrics by Al Stillman
Music by Jeri Sullivan and Paul Baron
©1944, EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.

If you ever go down Trinidad,
They make you feel so very glad.
Calypso sing and make up rhyme;
Guarantee you one real good fine time.

[Chorus]
Drinkin’ rum and Coca Cola;
Go down "Point Koo-mah-nah,"
Both mother and daughter
Workin’ for the Yankee dollar.

Since the Yankee come to Trinidad,
They got the young girls all goin’ mad.
Your girls say they treat ‘em nice,
Make Trinidad like paradise.
Chorus

From Chicki-chick-kari to Mona’s Isle (unclear)
Native girls all dance and smile
Help soldier celebrate his leave
Make every day like New Year’s Eve
Chorus

In old Trinidad, I also fear
The situation is mighty queer,
Like the Yankee girl, the native swoon,
When she hear Der Bingle croon.
Chorus

Out on Manzanella Beach
G.I. romance with native peach,
All night long, make tropic love;
Next day sit in hot sun and cool off
Chorus

Any visitor to Trinidad
Can have good time he never had.
If he come just for rest, okay.
Then he lie around in sun all day.
Chorus

Island gal have figure fine
Just like Trinidad coastline
But there's one thing I must make plain
She's a little plump about Port Au Spain
Chorus

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05 Feb 98 - 01:01 AM (#20689)
Subject: RE: TRINIDAD CALYPSO
From: dick greenhaus

Ah, my selective long-term memory.

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07 Feb 04 - 07:48 AM (#1111309)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rum and Coca Cola
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

My, my! I posted the information and link to Folkways about the suit Lord Invader brought against Morey Amsterdam to thread 661111, the other one on this song- Rum and Coca Cola
Suffice it to say that Lord Invader collected $132,000 from Morey Amsterdam in his part of the suits, which, coupled with the action by Lionel Belasco, bankrupted Amsterdam.

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I closed this thread in an attempt to avoid splitting the discussion. Please post here (click) or in one of the related threads listed in the crosslinks toward the top of this page.
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

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